Railway truck



ay 18 l943 K. F. NYsTRoM ETAL 2,319,523

RAILWAY TRUCK Filed May 6, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 18, 1943 K. F. NYslTRoM ETAL RAILWAY TRUCK Filed May s, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a. MEN 55 oT 4 T SRER Y Z m RTKG E OS N d. F3 MYL R ,4 .wNBw nw f L E MMV Il .U 5 E 2 m f [Hun mmllll nu@ m A Patented May 18, 1943 RAILWAY TRUCK Karl F. Nystrom, Milwaukee, Wis., Edmund S. Beckette, East St. Louis, lll., and Vernon L. Green, Milwaukee, Wis.; said Bec-kette assigner to General Steel Castings Corporation, Granite City, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application May 6, 1940, Serial No.

15 Claims.

The invention relates to railway rolling stock trucks and more particularly to trucks adapted to be used in passenger train service, and the invention comprises all of the novel structure described below and illustrated in the accompany ing drawings.

Reference is here made to applicants cependlng application Serial No. 237,820, filed October 31, 1938, now Patent No. 2,241,418, issued May 13, 1941, of which the present application is a continuation in part.

The main object of the invention is to improve the riding qualities of trucks and more particularly of trucks for light weight cars in high speed service where violent and sudden vertical and lateral movements o-f the truck parts and compression and recoil of the springs tend to create discomfort for the passengers.

It is customary in railway trucks of this type to use'leaf springs, either elliptic or semi-elliptic,

for supporting the bolster from the truck frame, and in some instances to use leaf springs for supporting the frame from the axles. Such springs are credited with usually acting to give easy riding conditions as the friction of the leaves sliding over each other tends to dampen oscillations, but the frictional action of the spring leaves doesnot absorb violent and sudden forces that may be applied to the truck to effectively control the thrust and rebound of the springs.

For these reasons, and because leaf springs are more expensive and occupy more space than coil springs, it is desirable to use coil springs both for supporting the truck frame upon the (Cl. IUS-190) axlesand for supporting the bolster upon the frame. As coil springs will compress and recoil freely, their use is likely to cause excessive rocking and bouncing, and poor riding and danger of derailment, and damage to the car and rails `unless additional means is provided to effectively dampen the coil spring action, but such devices have been designed to dampen or control, in a like manner, both the downward or compressive movement of the springs and the upward or rebound movement of the springs. Any snubbing device which unduly checks a downward or compressive movement of a flexible bolster coil spring will tend to impair the good riding qualities of the truck because some of the forces or shocks will be transmitted through the bolster tothe car body instead of being cushioned or dissipated by the spring.

it has been found that the most desirable bolster spring arrangement for high speed service is one in which the springs may have free downward or compressive movement which will cushion and eliminate, as far as possible, the transmission o-f vertical shocksv to the car body and which will have a controlled upward or rebound movement which willcheck the rebound to such extent that there will be no galloping or bouncing of the-truck bolster.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide structure cooperating with coil springs to effectively control the spring action, and this object is attained in part by providing ahydraulic shock absorbing and snubbing device between the bolster and the truck frame which will render relatively slight resistance to forces tending to compress the spring but which will check and absorb the recoil or rebound of the spring due to violent and sudden forces applied between the frame and the bolster.

Another object is to simplify the application of, such avshock absorber by mounting it independently of the springs as distinguished from various springs dampening structures previously used comprising overlapping plates or other friction elements assembled with the spring structure.

Another object of the invention is to utilize the hydraulic shock absorbers for cushioning lateral forces or shocks in their transmission between the wheels, frame, bolster and body.

Another object of the invention is to stabilize the action of the bolster at opposite sides of the truck by transferring a portion of a force tending to compress a spring at one side of the truck to a spring at the other side of the truck so as to keep the bolster in parallel relation with the frame and keep the load on the springs equal.

Another object of the invention is to reduce noise and vibration resulting from metal to metal contact throughout a number of moving parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a light weight economical truck having easy riding qualities comparable to or superior to heavier trucks previously used.

These and other detailed objects'as will appear from the following specification are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of the major part of a four-wheel truck, the end portions of the sides of the truck being broken away as they are unimportant and to enable the drawings'to'be made on a larger scale.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the truck structure shown in Figure l.

Figures 3 and 4 are vertical transverse sections on an enlarged scale taken on the corresponding section lines of Figure 1.

Figure v5 is a vertical transverse section through the shock'vabsorbing snubbing device connecting thebolster andltruckframefand is taken on the line 'li- 5.0i FigureLZbut is drawn to an enlarged scale.

YFigure `5al is a ycorresponding section of the lowerjportion Aoi the unit with the parts in a .different position.

Figure16 isa detail vertical section taken on the .corresponding section line of Figure l.

The .truck includes the usual wheels l, axles 2 and axle journal boxes 3. A coil spring 5, or a group of coil springs, is Ymounted upon each journalbox and the truck frame rests upon springs 5.

VThe truckframe comprises wheel pieces 5 extending over the axle boxes, pedestal legs l depending 'from `wheel-'pieces '6, transverse transoms 8 lspaced apart, andjother details customary in such frames but'not enumerated here except as particularly mentioned below.

vSuspended-from the end portions of transoms 8 where they mergewith 'wheel pieces E are pairs of swing hangers 9 pivotally mounted in the transoms by pins il), the links of each pair being connected'by across bar ll. A spring plank l2 extends between cross bars El and has upwardly facing seats i3 for .mounting the Vbolster coil springs I4. Themain body part of bolster l is located at substantially the -same level as wheel pieces 6 and its end portions include downwardly facing spring capportions for receiving the upper ends of springs Hi. Preferably each cap portion has applied thereto a rubber disc iii and a rubber annulus A. `Each of these rubber members is bonded to a plate vwhich may be vwelded to the bolster casting atW. Relative lateral movement ofthe 'bolster and spring lll is limited by the contact of the `spring with the rubber annulus A.

Disc yI receives the thrust of spring lll through a cap plate I-'I which .is provided `with a 'downward extension lll'carrying anut it on its lower end. Spring plank l2 is provided with an opening immediately beneath nut i9 and adapted to receive aboli; 2G,- The bolster may be supported on blocks or 'jacks `and bolt 2t vinserted through the opening in `the spring plank and threaded into Ynut l 9.

When the head of bolt 2Q strikes the lower face of springplank l2, `further rotation of the bolt will draw elements'l il, 13, andi l downwardly, compressing spring I'll to facilitate the vremoval lof vthe "bolster, bolster spring, or spring plank from the truck. The Aabove described `features are disclosed and claimed in our abovementioned copending application led October 3l, 1938,

Serial No. 237,320, which has since matured into U. S. Patent No. 2,241,418, granted May 13, 1941.

Bolster l5 is provided with downwardly and outwardly extending arms 2l projecting beneath wheel pieces E5 and terminating in flanges '22 preferably in vertical alignment with brackets 23 formed on the outer faces of wheel pieces il. Shock absorber devices Sill are secured to bolster flanges 22 and frame brackets 23 and coact with the frame and bolster to control relative vertical movements thereof by absorbing forces applied to the parts, especially violent and sudden forces which otherwise would result in free action of the springs lil in both compression and recoil` The shock absorbers will also function to break up harmonic synchronization of springs i4 and springs 5 and thereby function indirectly to dampen the ction of the latter-mentioned springs.

Each device Erl is designed to permit substantially free compressive movement oi the bolster springs but to check the rebound movement of the springs'to such an extent that galloping or bouncing of the truck bolster is prevented. During downward movement 'of the truck bolster relative to the truck frame, or upward movement ci the truck frame relative to the truck bolster, telescoping body members 150 and lll are moved away from each other, applying pressure to the iiuid F above the valve piston 42, Vand the valve disc #i3 is thrust away from the lpiston (see Figure 5d) permittingf the fluid to flow freely through large openings Ile, as well as small openings 45, into the lower portion of member lll. Gn the return or rebound movement of the bolster springs, valve disc i3 will again sea-t on piston 42 (see Figure 5) and prevent the iiuid from returning through large openings lill, but since the fluid can pass lthrough small openings @35, the rebound movement will continue at a reduced speed until the bolster springs have resumed their normal position and the parts of the snubbing device have been returned thereby to their normal position, as shown in Figure 5.

Hence devices 24 act to'render relatively slight resistance to forces tending to compress the bolster springs l and will check and absorb their recoil action due to violent and sudden forces and automatically adjust their resistance instantly to the magnitude of the opposing force, for it is a law of hydraulics that when a liquid is forced through a restricted opening, the resistance to its iiow varies as the square of the velocity of its passage.

Preferably the shocl: absorbers are attached to the bolster ilange's and the frame brackets by rubber 'mountings 25 which permit the shock absorbers 'to tilt relative to the bolster and frame and thereby accommodate lateral movement of the bolster relative to theframe due to ther swinging of the swinghangers under the action'of lateral shocks. As such relative-movement of the frame and bolster isattended by elongation or shortening of the telescoping shock absorber, it is obvious that the latter will provide some resistance to such relative lateral motion and interfere with the building up of excessive lateral movement by the superimposing of vthe motion of one lateral shock upon that of a succeeding shock.

The truck bolster is provided with a center plate structure 25 adapted to receive a body center plate (not shown), and the construction of the truck center plate forms the subject matter of another application filed by the'present applicanta'Serial No. 318,982, which application is a vcent the inner side lof the curve. the friction between the stabilizer elements and vrelative to the wheels, axles and boxes.

division of application Serial No.` 237,820 previously referred to herein.

To stabilize the vertical movement of opposite en d portions of the bolster and to frurtherconvtrol the actions of the'bolster springs and devices 24,'there are provided torque rods 3|- journalled ,in brackets 32 -on wheell pieces 6, and each torque vrod has arms 33 at its opposite ends extending towards bolster i5 but not directly contacting lthe same. An upright link 34 has a pivotal connectionwith the inner end of each arm 3.3, the

-pivot axis extending transversely of the truck.

and the lower end of veach link 34 is pivotally connected with a bolster arm V2|, the pivot axis extending longitudinally of the truck. Preferably ,each of these pivotal connections includes rubber mounting elements 35 which take up any play betweenthe parts and break the metal to metal lineVv of contact between the bolster and 'and the snubbing devices operating simultaneously. Hence the work done by the shock absorbing structure at each side of the truck may :1 'be reduced. The stabilizers reduce the travel-.of

the snubbing devices because without the stabilizer the snubbing device adjacent the outside of a section ofcurved trackwould be subject to reater extension thanfthe-snubbing device adja- Furthermore.

connections to the truck par-ts, particularly where rubber mountings are used, will have a dampeningeifect on vertical oscillations ofthe bolster springs and this will reduce the amount 'of work to be done by the snubbers.

All of the structure described cooperates to improve the riding qualit-ies of the truck and to avoid excessive rocking and bouncing of the truck bolster relative to the frame and of the frame The location of the hydraulic shock absorber-snubbing devices 24 on the exterior of the truck frame and beyond the end of the bolster facilitates their assembly and disassembly with the parts to which they are attached and accommodates the substitution of devices having diierent capacities so that the compression and recoil of the bolster springs can be adjusted-or controlled to meet 'the requirements of thef service conditions. This change of shock absorber-snubbing devices 24 may be made wholly independently of the coil springs and their mountings and without affecting the cross stabilizer structure with which'the shock absorber cooperates.

The bolt and nut arrangement for compressing the bolster springs further facilitates the removal and reapplication of shock absorbers by making it possible to take the load oi the same irrespective of whether or not it is desired to remove the spring plank and the spring assembly from the truck.

By using coil springs mounted on top of the journal boxes for supporting the truck framejthe road shocks are transferred directly to the springs and then to the truck frame, thereby eliminating the usual equalizers for distributing the load on the axles and reducing the cost and Weight 0f the truck structure and thereby providiii) bolster' outwardly extending portions. y '4. In railway truck, ar frame, a lateral inoltion bolster which is spring supported near its `ing an inexpensive light weight truck suitable for high speed light weight cars and at they same time, through the shock absorbers and stabilizers structure, retaining stability and easy riding qualities.

It will be understood thatdiierent types of bolster cross stabilization and shock absorbersnubbing structures may be substituted for those shown, and modiiications in v-vthe details of the frame, bolster and other parts may be made without departing'from the spirit of the invention and exclusive use ofA such variations as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is: 5

1. In a railway truck, a frame, swing hangers suspended from said frame, springs carried there- V'by and located inwardly of 'the sides of said frame, a bolster mounted on said springs with portions extending outwardly of the truck beyond said springs and spaced substantially below said frames, and shock absorbers positioned outwardly of said springs and secured at their opposite ends to the sides of said frame and to said bolster outwardly extending portions respectively.

2. In a railway truck, a frame having wheel pieces, swing hangers suspended from said frame, springs carried thereby, a bolster including a 'body portion carried on said springs and located at substantially the same level as said wheel pieces and having arms extending outwardly of the truck beyond said springs and downwardly beneath said wheel pieces, and elongated shock absorber structures disposed vertically and outwardlyof said springs and telescoping axially and secured at their upper ends to said wheel pieces land secured at their lower ends to said arms.

j I 3*. In a railway truck, a frame, swingvhangers suspended from, said frame, springs carried thereby-and located inwardly of the sidesof said frame, a bolster .mounted on vsaid springs vwith portions extending outwardly of the truck beyond said springs and spaced substantially below said frames, and hydraulic shock absorbers positioned outwardly of the'truck fromv said springs and `each 'comprising members telescoping axially with the axisdisposed'vertically and with the Aout'erends of the respective members secured to theA sidev of said frame and to the corresponding -nalled in said Vframewith armsextending towards said bolster, links pivoted on'said arms and depending therefrom and swinging transversely of the truck, and pivotal connections between the lower ends of said links and said bolster whereby said torque rod and said links stabilize vertical movement of the spring and snubbing units at opposite bolster ends, and also accommodate movement of the bolster transversely of the truck.

5. In a railway truck, a frame, a lateral motion bolster spring-supported near its opposite ends from said frame, snubbing units between said frame and the bolster ends, a torque rod extending transversely and journalled in said 'frame with arms substantially parallel to the sides of the truck, links each having one end pivoted to one of said arms to swing transversely of the truck, and pivotal connections between the other ends of said links and said bolster, whereby said torque rod and links stabilize vertical movement of the bolster ends and their supporting springs land said units and also accommodate movement of the bolster transverselyof the truck.

6. In a railway truck, a frame, elements pivotally mounted on said frame, springs carried by said elements, a bolster mounted on said springs, and a snubbing device including a member containing hydraulic fluid, and a member movable through said luid and having a Valve providing for relatively Vsmall resistance to the movement of said member through said iluid in one direction and relatively increased resistance to the movement of said member through said uid in the opposite direction, one member of said device being connected directly 'to .said frame and the other member ofsaid device being connected directly to said bolster, said device tfunctioning rindependently of movement oi said bolster laterally of the truck.

7. In a railway truck, a frame including a wheel piece, elements pivotally mounted on said frame, lsprings carried by said elements, a bolster mounted on said springs and including a portion in vertical alignment with said wheel piece, anda snubbing device comprising telescoping members and a hydraulic fluid resisting the telesco'ping movement of said members, said device being arranged with its axis substantially upright and with one member secured to said 'wheel piece 'and the other member secured to said bolster portion.

8. In a railway truck, a frame, swing hangers suspended from opposite sides of said frame, a

spring plank extending between said swing hangers, coiled springs mounted on the end portions of said spring plank, a bolster supported on said springs and having end portions extending outwardly and downwardly from said springs to a level corresponding to the level of said spring plank, and shock absorbers each having one end secured tosaid frame and the other end secured to an end portion of said bolster.

9. In a railway truck, wheels, axles, journal boxes, coil springs mounted on said journal boxes, a frame supported on said springs, swing hangers suspended from said frame, springs carried by said swing hangers, a bolster supported by said latter-mentioned springs, and a shock absorber at each side of the truck connected at its opposite ends directly tothe end portion of the bolster intermediate its sides and connected directly to the adjacent portion of the truck frame.

10. A railway truck as described in claim 1 which also includes cross 'stabilizerstructur'e con- .nected to the frame and bolster whereby the ac- .tion of 'the bolster supporting springs and the shock absorbers at opposite sides of the truck are rendered uniform.

11. A railway truck as described in claim 9 which also includes cross stabilizer structure between the frame and the bolster and providing for the equal distribution of vertical forces to the springs and shock absorbers at opposite sides of the truck.

12. In a railway truck, a load-carrying bolster, a spring near each side of the truck supporting said bolster, .structure carrying said springs and including a truck frame and swing hangers suspended from said frame and providing for lateral movement of saidv bolster relative to said frame, said frame having side members outboard of the springs, said bolster having portions outboard of the springs, a shock absorber positioned at Veach side of the truck, and means spaced lateri ally from fthe center of the truck at least as far as the frame side member and connecting the terminal elements of each shock absorber respectively to the corresponding bolster portion and to said structure independently of the swing hangers so as to accommodate lateral movement of the bolster relative to the frame and to control the action of said springs.

13. A railway truck as described in claim 12 in which the shock absorbers freely accommodate ldistortion of the springs when the bolster moves downwardly and yieldingly snub upward movement of the bolster.

14. In a railway truck, a frame including side members extending longitudinally of the truck, swing hangers suspended from said frame, springs carried thereby and located inwardly of the truck from said side members, a bolster mounted on said springs with portions extending outwardly of the truck beyond said springs, and shock absorbers positioned outwardly of the truck beyond said springs and each pivotally secured at its lower end to the adjacent bolster portion and pivotally secured at its upper end to the adjacent side member of the frame, said shock absorbers controlling the action of said springs and tilting transversely of the truck to accommodate lateral movements of the bolster due to the action of said swing hangers.

15. A railway truck as described in claim 14 in which the shock absorbers freely accommodate distortion of the springs when the bolster moves downwardly and yieldingly snub upward movement of the bolster.

KARL F. NYSTROM.

VERNON L. GREEN. EDMUND S. BECKETTE. 

